1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a boarding bridge that is used by passengers to board and deboard an aircraft or boat or the like, and a connecting portion for the same.
2. Description of Related Art
A boarding bridge is a tunnel-shaped walkway passage that links, for example, a terminal building of an airport and an aircraft, and enables the direct boarding and deboarding of passengers between the terminal building and the aircraft.
The distal end portion of a boarding bridge is connected to the doorway portion of the aircraft, and a walkway passage is formed by the floor portion of the doorway portion and the passage of the boarding bridge. The bottom end portion of the door of the doorway portion is positioned lower than the floor portion of the doorway portion, and thus if the level difference between the floor portion of the doorway portion and the passage of the boarding bridge is completely eliminated, the door abuts the passage and thus becomes difficult to open and close. In order for the opening and closing of the door to be carried out reliably and to provide a tolerance that takes into consideration the tracking precision, by which the boarding bridge is made to track the vertical movement of the airplane as the passengers board and deboard and the like, the position of the passage is set lower than the position of the floor portion of the doorway portion, for example, by about one-hundred and tens of millimeters.
There is a concern that passengers may trip and fall at this level difference, and in particular, passengers in wheel chairs cannot easily board and deboard an aircraft. As a solution for eliminating this problem, the invention of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2004-155257 has been proposed. This invention provides an elevating lift, at the distal end portion of the boarding bridge, that enables the passage portion thereabove to move vertically. After connecting to the distal end portion and opening the door while the passage portion of the elevating lift is at a lower position, the passage portion is raised as necessary, for example, when passengers deboard from an aircraft. The passage portion and the floor surface of the doorway portion are set to substantially identical heights, and it is possible for the passengers to move from the aircraft without a level difference being present. After the passengers have moved to the passage portion of the elevator lift, the elevating lift is lowered so that no the level difference is present between the elevating lift and the back floor surface, and then the passengers move to the terminal building. When entering the aircraft, the procedure is reversed.